Addressing and like printing machines



1952 T. E. F. SANDERSON 2, 83,188

ADDRESSING AND LIKE PRINTING MACHINES Filed April 15. 1949 2 SHEETSSHEET1 Inventor THOMfl-f EDNHRD Hen/v05 SANDERSON W1 ine A from ey Jan. 22,1952 T. E. F. SANDERSON 2,583,188

ADDRESSING AND LIKE PRINTING MACHINES I Filed'April 15. 1949 2SHEETS,SHEET 2 \T ow 3 1 m Ina/WWW THOMAS EDWARD FRHNC/S SmvDERso/v N QE w Patented Jan. 22, 1952 ADDRESSING AND LIKE PRINTING MACHIN ThomasEdward Francis Sanderson, Ruislip, England, assignor to Adrema Limited,London, England, a British company Application April 13, 1949, SerialNo. 87,223 In Great Britain February 5, 1948 4 Claims. (Cl. 101-47) Thisinvention relates to addressing-and like printing machines in which asuccession of printing plates are fed one at a time to the printingpositions of the machine. In existing machines the plates to be printedfrom are stacked in a vertical hopper or guide, which projects upwardlyfrom the flat top or table of the machine to the right of the printinposition. The plates in the hopper drop successively on to a horizontaltrack, which extends transversely of the machine, and are fed along thistrack to the printing position by a reciprocating shuttle.

In the machine of the present invention the stack of plates to beprinted from is placed in a horizontal hopper with the plates verticallydisposed, the hopper being located, below the level of the table of themachine. The table of the machine is thus left free from the obstructionformed by the usual vertical hopper and it becomes possible to arrangefor the feed of paper to the printing position to take place from rightto left of the machine or vice versa, instead of from back to front orvice versa. Such an arrangement offers particular advantages in caseswhere the paper feed is efiected automatically. The feeding means of themachine operate successively upon each of the plates to turn it into ahorizontal attitude and advance it along a horizontal track to theprinting position of the machine.

In the preferred arrangement the horizontal track along which the platesare fed to the printing position extends tranversely of the machine, thehopper extends rearwardly to the line of the rear edge of this track andat such a level that the upper edges of the plates are on the level ofthe track, means are provided for moving the plates in the hopper to therear end thereof and the feeding means operate to displace the rearmostplate transversely in its own plane out of the hopper, then to rotatethe plate about its upper edge so as to bring its lower edge intoalignmentwith the front edge of the track and then to feed the platealong that track to the printing position.

The mechanical means provided to produce these movements of the platesmay clearly take many different forms and the invention is not limitedto any particular construction of the mechanism. One particular and atpresent preferred construction is shown by way of example in theaccompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of partsof an addressing machine, taken from a view point behind and to theright of the machine; Figure 2 is a plan view of parts of the feedmechanism of the machine; Figure 3 is a front elevation of the partsshown in Figure 2; and Figure 4 is a fragmentary view of the machinetaken at right angles to Figures 2 and 3 showing details of thesefigures.

Referring first to Figure l, a pack of vertically disposed printingplates 4 is placed in a horizontal hopper or guide 5 which extendsrearwardly at the right hand side of the horizontal table 6 of themachine and is situated below the level of that table. By means to bedescribed later the plates are fed towards the rear of the hopper andduring each operating Cycle of the machine the rearmost plate isdisplaced in its own plane out of the hopper into the transfercompartment 1. On entering this compartment the upper part of the frontface of the plate is engaged by the free rear edges of the spring plates8, 9. A swinging arm Ill comprises a straight portion which is pivotallysupported at its upper end upon a member H, forming part of thestationary frame of the machine, and a curved portion 12, which projectsforwardly from the lower end of the straight portion and can passthrough an opening in the frame member ll. As the printing plate nearsthe inner end of the transfer compartment 1, the arm l0 swings forwardlyinto the position shown in the figure, the tip of the curved portionengaging the lower part of the rear face of the plate and moving itforwardly and upwardly. The upper part of the plate is restrained by thespring plates 8 and 9, so that the plate is constrained to rotate aboutits upper edge into a horizontal position in which it is aligned withthe horizontal track l3 along which the plates move to the printingposition I4. Figure 1 shows the parts in the positions which they occupyat this stage of the machine cycle, but the printing plate which hasjust been turned into the horizontal position is omitted from thedrawing so as to allow the interior of the transfer compartment 1 to beseen. During the next machine cycle, while the following printing plateis being displaced from the hopper into the transfer compartment, theplate in that compartment is moved into the track l3, forcing theprinting plates 4a already in the track further along it and deliveringthe foremost of these plates to the printing position M, where it isprinted from in the usual way by the action of the printing head l5.

It will be seen from Figure 1 that the flat top 6 of the machine is leftclear and entirely unobstructed by the plate storing the feeding means.

Moreover, the disposition of the plates in the hopper makes clearlyvisible to the operator any index or signal tabs, such as l6, which maybe carried in well known manner upon the upper edges of the plates. Theoperator's control of the printing or skipping of given groups of platesis therebyfacilitated.

The rearward feed of the plates in the hopper is eiiected by thelongitudinal reciprocation of a rack bar l'l, operated through ayielding connection l8 from a suitable oscillating point in the machinedrive. The rack engages a tooth l9 projecting downwardly from a carriage20, which is supported upon a counterslide 2| and supports an arm 22extending in front of the last plate in the hopper. The tooth I9 can bewithdrawn clear of the rack, to permit free movement of the carriage 20along its counterslide, by means of a lever 23. A bracket 24, slidingfriction tight on a rail 25 engages behind the rear-most plate in thehopper and serves to support the pack of plates during insertion andwithdrawal. When the plates are at the extreme rear end of the hopper,as they must be for feeding to be effected, the bracket 24 isaccommodated in a recess 26 in the frame mem ber ll.

Referring now principally to Figures 2 and 3, the means for feeding theplates from the hopper into the transverse horizontal track I3 comprisea shuttle assembly, which is reciprocated longitudinally of the track ofthe usual plate feeding drive of the machine. This shuttle comprisesbars 21 extending along the track l3 beneath the printing plates, whichare not shown in Figures 2 and 3. -At their outer orright hand ends thebars 21 are connected to a vertically disposed transfer plate 28 whichslides in a shallow groove in the face of member H and can pass behindthe rearmost printing plate in the hopper. This transfer plate 28carries at its outer end a forwardly projecting spring mounted pawl 29and at its inner end an upwardly projecting spring mounted pawl 30.Secured to the rear face of the transfer plate and sliding in a deepergroove 3| in member H are a guide block 32 and a wedge member 33.

The swinging arm I0 is biased into the forward position shown in Figure1 by a torsion spring 34. It is moved to the rearward position shown inFigures 2 and 3 by the engagement of a cam surface on the head 36 of avertical rod 3! with a pin 35, projecting laterally from the arm Hi. Therod 31 passes slidably through a bore in the frame member II and issecured at its lower end to a horizontal rod 38 which lies in avertically elongated slot in member II and projects forwardly into thegroove 3!. The rod 38 is held in the raised position shown in Figures 2and 3, thus holding the swinging arm in its rearward position, by alatching bar 39, slidably secured in the groove 3| and biased intolatching position by a compression spring engaging forwardly projectingflange 40 at the inner (left hand) end of the latching bar.

Figures 2 and 3 show the parts in the positions they occupy when theshuttle is at the outer (right hand) end of its stroke. As the shuttlemoves inwardly, pawl 29 engages the outer end of the rearmost plate inthe hopper and displaces it in its own plane into the transfercompartment. During this movement, the wedge member 33 passes beneaththe rod 38 and in front of the latching bar 39, but just before theshuttle reaches the inner end of itsstroke it engages printing plate isbeing brought from the hopper to the transfer compartment, pawl 30engages the rear part of the outer end of the plate which was turnedinto horizontal position during the previous cycle stroke and moves thatplate into the transverse horizontal track l3 leading to the printingposition. This movement of the plate effects the advance of the platesalready in the track, but to effect the advance to the printing positionof the last plates of a batch, the bars 21 carry at spaced intervalsequal to the length of a plate further pawls, one of which is shown at4|.

What is claimed is:

1. In a printing machine having a printing position for printing sheetsby means of printing plates, comprising in combination a horizontallydisposed track adapted to receive slidably a succession of horizontallydisposed printing plates, a horizontally disposed hopper adapted toreceive a stack of vertically disposed printin plates, the hopperextending rearwardly to the line of the rear edge of the track and atsuch a level that the upper edges of the plates in the hopper are on thelevel of the track, means for moving the plates in the hopper to therear end thereof, a shuttle reciprocating longitudinally of the track,means carried by the shuttle and operative at each inward stroke of theshuttle for engaging the outer end of the rearmost plate in the hopperand displacing that plate out of the hopper, a swinging arm pivotallymounted about an axis adjacent and parallel to the rear edge of thetrack for engaging the lower part of the rear face of the plate whichhas been displaced out of the hopper by the shuttle and moving the lowerpart of the plate forwardly and upwardly, means for resiliently engaginthe upper part of the front face of the plate during each movement ofthe swinging arm so as to constrain the plate to rotate about its upperedge and means carried by the shuttle for engaging the outer end of theplate which has thus been turned into horizontal position and moving itinto and along the track during the next inward stroke of the shuttle.

2. A machine in accordance with claim 1 and further comprising meansbiasing the swinging arm into its forward position, means carried by theshuttle and operative during the outward stroke thereof for moving thearm rearwardly, latching means for retainin the arm in its rearwardposition and means carried by the shuttle and operative towards the endof the inward stroke thereof for releasing the latching means to permitthe arm to swing forwardly..

3. In a printing machine having a printing position for printing sheetsby means of printing plates, comprising in combination a horizontaltable for supporting the sheets to be printed, said printing positionbeing in the table, plate guides extending horizontally andsubstantially in the plane of the table past the printing position,transport means for moving a succession of horito the printing position,a storage hopper positioned wholly below the plane of the table, saidhopper being arranged to receive vertically disposed printing plates,and means for operating successively upon each of the plates in thehopper to turn substantially each plate into a horizontal attitude,raise it to the level of the guides and feed it into the guides.

4. In a printing machine having a printing position for printing sheetsby means of printing plates, comprising in combination a horizontaltable over which the sheets to be printed are fed, said printingposition being in the table, a horizontal track extending transverselyacross the table along which the printing plates are to be fed to theprinting position, a storage hopper dis- 1 posed below the table andextending rearwardly to the line of the rear edge of the track, saidhopper being arranged to receive vertically disposed printing plates,moving means for moving the printing plates in the hopper to the rearend thereof with the upper edge of the rearmost printing plate alignedwith the rear edge of the track,

and feeding means operative to displace the rearmost printing platetransversely in its own plane out of the hopper, then to rotate the saidplate about its upper edge so as to bring its lower edge into alignmentwith the front edge of the track and finally to feed the said platealong the said track to the printing position.

THOMAS EDWARD FRANCIS SANDERSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 301,471 Aregood July 8, 1884511,745 Barry Jan. 2, 1894 1,733,329 Bottle Oct. 29, 1929 1,823,161Payne Sept. 15, 1931 1,875,423 Daniels Sept. 6, 1932 2,113,902 Radice eta1 Apr. 12, 1938 2,372,736 Phillips et a1 Apr. 3, 1945

